Malenia, Blade of Miquella |
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| Location | Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree |
| Drops | |
 480,000 Malenia's Great Rune Remembrance of the Rot Goddess |
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| HP | 33,251 |
| Strong VS | Weak to |
Malenia, Blade of Miquella and Malenia, Goddess of Rot is a two-phase Demigod Boss in Elden Ring. She's the twin of Miquella, the most powerful of the Empyreans, and gained renown for her legendary battle against Starscourge Radahn during the Shattering, in which she unleashed the power of the Scarlet Rot and reduced Caelid to ruins.
This is an optional boss, as players do not need to defeat it in order to advance in Elden Ring.
...Heed my words. I am Malenia. Blade of Miquella. And I have never known defeat.
Malenia, Blade of Miquella Boss in Elden Ring
- This boss is optional.
- This is a Demi-God type boss.
- Closest Site of Grace: Haligtree Roots [Map Link]
- Multiplayer is allowed for this boss.
- Spirit Ashes can be summoned for this boss.
Elden Ring Malenia, Blade of Miquella Location
Malenia is located at the bottom of Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree. Her arena is immediately down the stairs from the Haligtree Roots site of grace. [Map Link]
See Malenia's location on the Elden Ring Map here.
Malenia, Blade of Miquella Combat information
- Health: NG (18,473 + 14,778), NG+ (18,750 + 15,000), NG++ (20,625 + 16,500), NG+3 (21,563 + 17,250), NG+4 (22,500 + 18,000), NG+5 (24,375 + 19,500), NG+6 (25,313 + 20,250), NG+7 (26,250 + 21,000)
- Malenia heals up to 80% of her health at the beginning of phase 2
- Defenses do not change between phases - she is more aggresive in 2nd phase.
- During recovery from Scarlet Aeonia, there is a damage reduction (~50%).
- Status Effects do not reset during phase transition
- Damage:
Standard, 
Slash, 
Pierce, - Inflicts:
Scarlet Rot (Phase 2) - Stance: 80
- Parryable: Yes, but 3 parries are required per stance break
- Is vulnerable to a critical hit after being stance broken or parried
- Can be toppled or knocked down.
- Albinauric Pot does not work to stop her from healing.
- Able to dodge most spells with ease.
- Frostbite/Blood loss can break out of her attacks.
Absorptions
- Phy (Standard): 10
- Phy (Slash): 10
- Phy (Strike): 10
- Phy (Pierce): 10
The absorption numbers are the % of your damage that gets blocked. For example, if an absorption is 60, 40% of that damage by that type will go through and 60% is absorbed. Bigger number = less damage. An absorption of 100 means no damage goes through, and a resistance of -100 mean the enemy takes 2x damage from that source. 0 means damage goes pretty much as is.
Resistances
Poison: 1,481
Scarlet Rot: 1,481
Hemorrhage: 420
Frostbite: 306
Sleep: 688
Madness: Immune
Death Blight: Immune
The resistance numbers are the buildup amount to trigger it. For example, if a resistance is 100 you must deal 100 points of whatever aux buildup to trigger it. Note that these go down over time, and increase each time the effect procs.
Elden Ring Malenia, Blade of Miquella Boss Guide
Malenia, Blade of Miquella Boss Video Guide
[video coming soon]
Malenia, Blade of Miquella Tips & Strategies
General Tips
- Malenia damage is physical only, so stack reduction against it such as the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman, the consumable Boiled Crab, the Opaline Hardtear in your Flask of Wondrous Physick, or the incantations Black Flame's Protection or Golden Vow.
- 50-60% damage reduction should make this fight slightly easier
- Malenia has low Poise so it doesn't take much to break her stance and leave her open to a critical attack, builds with good physical damage may want to use Stonebarb Cracked Tear. Additionally, she is vulnerable to knockdown attacks in her first phase, so using a weapon or Spirit Ash that abuses this can be helpful. The Blasphemous Blade's Unique Skill: Taker's Flames is also good option for this as it deals good fire damage and will often knock Malenia down, while each strike heals the player a bit, and can stunlocked Malenia for what is essentially the entire fight.
- Malenia heals herself for a percentage of all damage she inflicts, even if the attack is blocked, making shields suboptimal. This makes it even more important to dodge attacks. Ensure you have enough stamina for dodging, the Green Turtle Talisman and Pickled Turtle Neck consumable can help. It is better to dodge towards Malenia's katana than away from it.
- Inflict status effects. Malenia is weak to Frost and neutral to Fire. You can Frostbite Malenia, which deals 7% of her maximum health on its own, then remove the frostbitten debuff by inflicting fire damage, and repeat the process. Malenia also has relatively low resistance to Hemorrhage, inflicting bleed on her can allow players to outpace her self-healing, this makes the Rivers of Blood's unique skill Corpse Piler a good option against her as it deals Physical and Fire damage and inflicts Bleed buildup.
- Frost debuff can be used to stun her from Waterwolf Dance
- Frost can be also used for minor damage buff when non-fire weapons/spells are used
- Players can use summons such as Redmane Knight Ogha Ashes, whose greatarrows will often stagger Malenia and can even interrupt her during the Phantom Spirits attack. Additionally, he will stay in the back and she will focus on you as long as you keep her attention. Black Knife Tiche is also a good option, as she can dodge Malenia's attacks and limit her self-healing. Latenna The Albinauric is also a good option as she can be summoned by the door while the player keeps Malenia away from her. Summons more focused on tanking are not recommended, as Malenia will just heal herself off of them. Dragon Knight Kristoff can stagger Malenia reliably, especially when chain casting Thunderbolt. He is also very tanky and can usually stay alive for the fight.
- Malenia is able to dodge spells, what makes most of spells useless
- Incantation user should consider Lightning Spear
- Sorceries user should consider Night Sorceries
Fight Breakdown
Malenia, Blade of Miquella is a two-phase fight, with the second phase beginning once her health is reduced to zero for the first time.
Phase one: Malenia is slightly less aggressive, and will mostly only attack if the player tries to attack her. Additionally, if the player does not target lock the camera on her, she is likely to stay away from the player just walking left and right, use this to your advantage when you need some breathing room for example to drink a healing flask. If attacked with projectiles, she will attempt to dodge them and then rush at the player to attack them. Malenia has a few attacks that she can use to quickly close to gap, the most notable of these is her grab attack, which deals obscene amounts of damage, thus healing her for a big amount. If she takes too much damage, Malenia will attempt to disengage by jumping backwards 2 times, distancing herself from the player.
Once Malenia goes below 75% HP, she unlocks her Waterfowl Dance attack: she leaps into the air sword ready and, after a brief pause, lunges at the player four times with a flurry of cuts. The third leap has more range than the two before it. The fourth leap has massive range, and Malenia will attempt to get behind the player with it. After this final fourth flurry, a final cut strikes around her. All steps of this attack deal massive damage, getting hit by it all will very likely kill the player even at full health. Read the attacks & counter section for tips on how to avoid this attack.
After getting Malenia to 0 health, a cutscene plays and phase 2 starts with Malenia at 80% health. Note that critical attacks will not trigger phase 2, Malenia will survive them even if she has 0 health. Only a non-critical attack will work.
Phase two: Malenia, floating in the air, rapidly crashes on the player using Scarlet Aeonia dealing massive damage, then blooms into an orange flower which deals massive damage and inflicts massive amounts of Scarlet Rot. To dodge it, simply run towards Malenia and get behind her, she will miss because she cannot steer that much while charging the attack. Malenia will repeat this attack every 3 minutes.
Each of Malenia's attacks in this phase inflicts Scarlet Rot, the player should ensure they have Preserving Boluses to cleanse this condition should they be afflicted.
In addition to all her previous attacks and the aforementioned Scarlet Aeonia, Malenia gains a few new attacks in this phase. Most notably, as a follow-up to other sword attacks, Malenia can jump and then slam her sword into the ground to create a delayed explosion. Finally, Malenia can leap very high into the air, leaving behind her a small vortex of rot that deals massive damage, she will then summon phantoms of herself to lunge at the player one after the other, before finally lunging herself.
Advanced notes
While standing on the shallow water poodle in the middle of the arena, Malenia (and the player) gain 10% damage reduction to Fire Damage and lose 10% damage reduction to Lightning Damage.
Using any ranged attacks, perfumes, or throwables will cause Malenia to not only dodge left or right to avoid them, but also cause her to rush the player. Spells or incantations that can track her are recommended. Once she reaches 75% health and starts using Waterfowl Dance, she will proceed to dodge any range attack as usual but may then use Waterfowl Dance directly afterwards. The only time the player should use ranged attacks is if Malenia is being distracted by a summon. Night Sorceries will not trigger her evasion, as they are invisible to non-player characters.
After avoiding the Scarlet Aeonia attack by running behind Malenia so she misses, there is a window of about 5-7 seconds where players can counterattack from range. Use this opportunity to unleash powerful ranged attacks or spells/incantations with a DoT area effect. If you have the FP, Comet Azur can take off a sizable chunk of her HP before she becomes active again. This can be repeated every time she does this attack and is your best opportunity for heavy damage.
If Malenia is running at you at the start of the fight, she will proceed to rush you with a horizontal spinning attack once you are in range. This attack is telegraphed and easily parried. If you're not good at parrying, then dodge toward Malenia's left side (the player's right). If she slows down or starts moving left or right, she will not do the spin attack.
In order to avoid her Waterfowl Dance combo you must start running away from her while maintaining lock-on as soon as she leaps, which will let you avoid the first two spin attacks entirely if done soon enough (if not you will have to roll the second one). The third spin attack has to be rolled through, and make sure to stay away from her until the final AoE triggers. If you are caught by the attack it is better to roll towards her than away; the extreme edges of the attack seem to have more hitboxes.
Ash of War: Bloodhound's Step makes dodging Waterfowl Dance significantly easier. Using that ability, you can completely avoid the combo, even if you're close to Malenia when she starts its windup. Dash away from her, out of range of the first and second flurries (possibly multiple times depending on how far away she is), and toward her (once) to avoid the third flurry. (During the third flurry she jumps to you regardless of the distance, but the first and second flurries have a fixed jump range.)
In Phase 2, make sure you are constantly topped up to full HP. Many of her basic combo attacks are strong enough to deal well over 1000 damage to heavy armour users very quickly, so sitting at 80% HP or below to save on flasks is liable to get you killed.
A weapon with the Ash of War: Wild Strikes and the blood affinity can trivialize the first phase of the fight.
Ash of War: Golden Parry is useful for easily parrying most of her attacks. The increased parry range and window can be of tremendous help to players with less experience in parrying her attacks.
Melee Strategy
The main trick here is to attack her when she's not in an attack animation in order to stagger her, typically after she is done with a combo. Once you hit her and it staggers her, keep attacking to keep the stagger going while paying attention to when she side hops as this interrupts the stagger. When she does so, roll out of the way, keep some distance, and dodge her attacks until you get another opening, while keeping a keen eye on the startup for her waterfowl dance, to which you should run away from the first two volleys and dodge through the final volley. Be mindful of your positioning at all times, you do not want your back to a wall when she does her waterfowl dance. Stay calm, do not panic, watch some videos of her attacks, and you'll realize her flashy moves just seemed intimidating/impossible at first. Do not rely on a shield to do the work for you due to her healing ability, at most you should only use it to block the stray hit. Talisman suggestions would be Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman (or your best one), Ritual Shield Talisman, and Green Turtle Talisman to help mitigate damage and improve stamina regeneration.
In her second phase her attacks start to flow together more, but good ones to punish are her slamming attacks as she takes some time to create a rot burst in front of her.
Rivers of Blood and Blasphemous Blade are great options for weapons. If focusing on bleed damage, Curved Swords are a good choice as their dual-wielded jumping attack hits four times allowing quick Bleed build-up. This can be paired with the Raptor's Black Feathers, Claw Talisman, Beastman's Curved Sword, and Rotten Winged Sword Insignia for high DPS. The Scavenger's Curved Sword dual wielded with another Curved sword with a bleed affinity is a good choice for such a build. For Strength Arcane builds, Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear can be used for inflicting bleed from a distance rapidly by using Bloodboon Ritual weapon skill.
Magic and Ranged Strategy
For Incantation users, Swarm of Flies is a good option when summoning, especially Black Knife Tiche Ashes. Once Malenia focuses on Tiche, start casting Swarm of Flies. A slight delay between casts is a little more effective than constant spam, as it seems to catch her fully in each swarm rather than clipping her as she dodges out. If she leaps, just keep your distance and get ready to dodge Waterfowl Dance. With luck, one of your swarms will cause blood loss and she'll be staggered, but because you're keeping range, you should be able to dodge much, if not all, of the Waterfowl Dance. On phase 2, the recovery of Scarlet Aeonia is the perfect time to spam Swarm of Flies.
Other good incantations are Borealis's Mist to inflict Frostbite, Giantsflame Take Thee for its massive damage and high chance to knock Malenia down, Aspect of the Crucible: Tail and Aspect of the Crucible: Horns to knock down Malenia, or Dragonmaw which deals good damage and knocks her down. Protect yourself with both Golden Vow and Black Flame's Protection as they stack. Don't use offensive Holy incantations because Malenia has 40% damage reduction against Holy damage. Rotten Breath or Ekzyke's Decay are not terrible, but Malenia does have very high resistance to Scarlet Rot and Poison. For INT+FTH builds, Ancient Death Rancor is also a very good option, as it deals good damage, has good poise damage, and good tracking.
For Sorcery users, starting the fight with Ranni's Dark Moon can be helpful as it lowers her magic resistance and deals frostbite damage.
Do not use projectile attacks such as Great Glintstone Shard because she will just dodge them. Instead, use sorceries with good tracking capabilities such as the aforementioned moon or Stars of Ruin. Malenia, as all other NPCs, cannot see Night Sorceries so she will not dodge them, making Night Comet a fantastic option especially when paired with a Staff of Loss on the other hand to buff its damage (or, even better, with two Staves of Loss if you can get a second one from another player or a new game + playthrough).
Other good sorceries against her are Greatblade Phalanx for its high stance damage, which can be good if playing with a weapon that can inflict critical attacks once you stagger her, but this is not as good for pure mages that only use staves. Carian Piercer and Cannon of Haima are also good for knocking her down. For INT+FTH builds, Ancient Death Rancor is also a very good option, as it deals good damage, has good stance damage, and good tracking.
If using summons, Malenia might dodge fewer projectiles as she's busy focusing on the summon. This opens the door for spells such as Comet or Shard Spiral. Alternatively, spamming Ranni's Dark Moon while Malenia focuses on the summons is also a valid strategy, though this requires a lot of FP. If not spamming the moon, Glinstone Icecrag can help trigger Frostbite. Finally, Comet Azur can be considered for phase 2 to punish Malenia during her Scarlet Aeonia after dodging it.
Malenia, Blade of Miquella Attacks & Counters
| Attack | Description | Counter |
| Malenia's Dance (1.00 only) | Malenia raises sword to her left and makes 4 long steps - after each steps she attacks with a flurry of attacks. After that she jump towards Tarnished with attack and performs a final whirl strike, knocking down the target. | Attack not used in current version of the game. However, if player wants to face her in 1.00 version of the game, it is best to simply run away |
| Waterfowl Dance | Malenia leaps into the air, after a short pause she dives onto the player and slashes around her in an AoE. She then slashes two more times, closing the gap with a smaller dash each time. Her final slash is then followed with a short AoE that she doesn't move for. This attack also builds up scarlet rot very quickly in phase two. This attack can be blocked. | There are several methods in dodging the attack, the method depends on the distance between you and her: 1) If you are distanced about four or more meters out of her sword's reach, immediately start running back the moment she leaps in the air. The first two slashes will miss as long as you keep running. Immediately stop running after she finishes her second slash and roll towards her, the third slash will miss since it's programmed to send her behind you. If you've timed this right the fourth slash will miss as well without requiring any additional inputs from you. 2) If she jumps up while you're within her sword's reach, immediately start running back. The timing is precise and requires some training. The moment her foot touches the ground to begin the first slash, jump or roll away from her, this move will dodge the first slash. She'll now wind up her second slash, move towards her while keeping your eyes on her sword arm, then roll towards her left arm (right side from your POV) the moment her sword arm starts to move for a second slash. If timed right this will dodge her second slash. For the third slash, simply roll towards her again and then roll away from her to avoid the fourth slash. 3) If you have a weapon with high bleed build-up (such as dual curved swords with Ash of War: Seppuku), the bleed effect will stagger her out of the Waterfowl Dance attack. 4) Ash of War: Bloodhound Step can also be used to easily dodge through this attack. You can apply the Ash of War to an off-hand dagger and quickly switch to it whenever she begins the Waterfowl Dance animation. 5) Ash of War: Vow of the Indomitable can be used to partially dodge the first volley with the right timing. The I-frames don't last long enough to completely dodge the first volley, but you can dodge afterwards and still take no damage. Another way to dodge this attack when you're at close range (albeit a lot more difficult), is to circle her (without locking-on) when she's in the air, double roll away from her for the first dash, lock-on to her again and do the same thing as above for the other three dashes. Alternatively, block with a shield that has relatively high stability. She will recover her health, but it is more preferable than dying. At this point in the game you should deal enough damage to make up for health regained. Note: She tends to use this attack more often, if she is engaged with range weaponry/spells (needs further testing). |
| Kick | Malenia will rush the player before she swipes at the player with her leg (unparryable), which can then be followed up by one of four attacks. A slightly delayed stabbing dash attack, a sword swipe followed up by an overhead slam on the ground, or two quick slices followed by another slice. It can also be followed up with a grab attack (see below). |
The kick is fairly easy to avoid. Creating distance can keep you safe from the latter two follow ups. The stabbing dash attack is telegraphed by a small flash on her sword, helping you time a roll. The kick can also be blocked, but consumes high amounts of stamina. |
| Thrust | Malenia will slightly jump into the air, followed by a very quick thrusting attack, dealing a huge amount of pierce damage. This attack usually catches player off-guard. Can be parried at melee. |
Malenia usually does this attack when the player is healing at mid-range. So if you want to heal, make sure to run far away from her first before healing, or wait for the thrust before healing. To avoid the thrust, simply roll left or right (backwards works as well but it's a bit risky). Because of pierce damage, this attack deals increased damage if the player is in counterattack frames. If the player is far enough away from her, it's possible to jump over the thrust. If the player is close enough, they can parry it. |
| Rapid Prosthesis Slices | Malenia will shorten her blade (indicated by a ping sound) then rush the player, do three quick attacks in succession, followed by a final horizontal attack that can be delayed. This attack can end up quickly healing her along with devastating the player's health. This attack can also occur on its own, in the middle of a combo, or to end a combo (usually indicated by her delaying the final sweep). Can be parried. |
Malenia uses this attack only if her blade is to her right (the player's left if they are looking at her) which means you can be better prepared for it. Listen for the ping sound to indicate the weapon change, then roll towards her (into the attack) to her right. Back up and if needed roll away from her once you are clear to avoid the final sweep. Do not rush in for an attack unless the final sweep is delayed, which would indicate the end of a combo and an opening for the player. Avoid dodging backwards, as the third hit will clip you. She may sometimes follow it up with the same attack - this can happen multiple times in a row. |
| Uppercut + Slam OR Charge + Spin | Malenia will hold her sword back, then do one of the two damaging attacks depending on the player's location: (i) If the player is at close range, she will do an uppercut, then leap upwards and slams down. (ii) If the player is at long range, she will charge towards the player at fast speed, then spin her sword, followed by a slam. |
The two attacks are very delayed and extremely damaging, so make sure you recognize the starting animation (indicated by her holding her sword back) immediately and be prepared for the attacks. For Uppercut + Slam: Roll backwards to avoid the uppercut, then wait for her to slam down and roll forward left or forward right. If you are brave enough, you can get a few hits in before her uppercut, then dodge at the very last second. For Charge + Spin: Roll twice as soon as you see her charging towards you to dodge both the spin and the slam altogether. Malenia will be wide open for attacks after performing these two attacks. You can either do a charged strong attack or even a weapon's skills such as Lion's Claw or Spinning Slash. |
| Lunging Grab | Malenia will raise her hand in preparation for a grab attack, then lunge in a straight line towards the player very quickly. If the grab connects she will toss the player into the air and impale them, dealing 2225 base thrusting damage, before tossing their body onto the ground. During Phase two, this attack can be immediately followed by a flying sweep + thrust attack. This attack cannot be blocked or parried. |
Dodge roll when Malenia lunges, preferablyto the sides (backwards works too if you time it right). During Phase two, be prepared for the flying sweep + thrust attack (See below) as it may catch the player off-guard. While this attack can be interrupted by most player attacks while she winds up the grab, it's not suggested to do so because of the risks. |
| Scarlet Aeonia | Phase two only. Malenia will dive onto the player and summon a giant flower that explodes around her. This leaves a lingering mist that applies scarlet rot and a DoT effect in the area. This attack is always used as her first attack in phase two. | Roll as soon as you see her sword is lifted, then sprint away for her for a little bit (around half a second), then roll away from her again. Remember to not attack her right away after the explosion as the rot will linger for quite a bit (around 4 - 5 seconds), use this time window to heal, recover FP, reapply buffs, or even cast some spells if you're a ranged user. After the scarlet rot is gone (indicated by the flower disappearing), she will be unable to move for a while, and is wide open for attacks, use this time window to use your skill (or a charged strong attack) on her to deal massive damage in a single hit. |
| Scarlet Explosion | Phase two only. Malenia will retain its original moves from Phase one, however there is a chance that she will do a follow-up on most attacks, where she flies up into the air briefly, then slams down her sword, dealing a huge amount of damage and creating on the ground a small vortex of rot, which then explodes after a brief delay and builds up scarlet rot. The explosion can also occur from the slamming attacks from Phase one, which she can follow up and result in a double Scarlet Explosion. | This attack usually occur when she is done with her regular Phase one combo. Roll in any direction to avoid the slam, roll again if you're unsure whether exploson will hit you. This attack can be heavily punished if you roll into her and get to her back, as she will be wide open for attacks after the slam. To differentiate between this attack and the Waterfowl Dance (as these two attacks have similar starting animation), if she twirls before flying up, it's the Waterfowl Dance; if she flies upwards without twirling, she's doing the Scarlet Explosion attack. |
| Flying Sweep + Thrust | Phase two only. Malenia will fly up into the air, and glides down onto the player from the left, followed by a very quick thrust attack. This attack can be followed up with the Scarlet Explosion attack. | She will usually do this attack when you're at long range. Roll left to avoid the first sweep, then roll left or right to avoid the thrust. Or, roll the sweep, then jump the thrust. See above to learn how to dodge the Scarlet Explosion follow-up. Because of pierce damage, the follow up thrust attack deals increased damage if the player is in counterattack frames. |
| Counter Kick | Phase two only. Sometimes, when the player hit Malenia, she will follow-up by countering the player with a kick (different from a regular kick). Although this kick doesn't do a lot of damage, it'll usually catch the player off guard and stagger them greatly. | Never attack twice in a row when she's in a walking/running animation and always be prepared for the counter kick, roll backwards when she begins to lift her leg to avoid the attack. Unlike the regular kick, Malenia will not follow this up with another attack and will stand still for a solid second. You can exploit this weakness by doing an attack after dodging the counter kick (either doing a running attack, quick weapon's skills, or just a simple attack if you have a long weapon). |
| Phantom Spirits | Phase two only. Malenia will fly into the air, creating a pool of scarlet rot on the ground below her, and consecutively fire out four phantom versions of herself that will do two horizontal sweeps, a vertical slam, a third horizontal sweep followed by a quick thrust, one final thrust, before Malenia herself comes down with a high speed flying thrust to player, dealing high damage. The first and last phantom will stay longer in order to do a single thrust attack each, occurring after the fourth's sweep attack. | Roll in the directions as the following order: Backwards twice (delay a bit between these two rolls), followed by two forward rolls (immediately after one another), then roll to the left twice (immediately after one another). The timing for the third and fourth roll might be a bit difficult to get a grasp on (and will usually result in death as you'll get hit by two phantoms), but once you get those two rolls right, you'll never get hit by the phantoms. Note: This attack can target more than 1 player.
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Elden Ring Malenia Lore, Notes & Trivia
FAQ: Is Malenia the hardest Elden Ring boss?
- The Souls games are well-known to be one of the most challenging games around; forcing players to adjust to each encounter and improve their Combat skills and reactions according to the opponent's movesets. Amongst all the Bosses, the community has been polarized on Malenia. Her design, fighting style, arena, and voice acting have been universally prasied. Conversly, some of Malenia's mechanics have been strongly criticized, such as her ability to lifesteal without even damaging the player, as well as the massive range and damage of Waterfowl Dance. Some critics deem Malenia as an unfair boss, while her supports argue that this is why she is an optional boss. Polls have even previously been conducted surveying players on who they believe is the hardest Elden Ring boss, and most people agree that it would be Malenia.
- In Elden Ring, FromSoftware has given the tools to allow players a choice in how difficult they want their combat encounters to be. A few returning souls players will opt to face these bosses without the additional aid, 'OP' Weapons or Spirit Ashes. The available tools that the developer provided in the game is said to determine the gameplay difficulty since there are no official difficulty settings in the game. However, a little assist for players does not hurt if it helps them progress and improve. Some ways to alleviate the difficulty would be to experiment with different Builds, Weapons and equipment. A Faith or Bleed build could prove to be more effective aginst her. Spirit Ashes can also be summoned for additional help in the arena against her. There are plenty of Spirit Ashes to choose from depending on how much help the player needs during her encounter.
Elden Ring Malenia Other Notes
- "In the first year after launch, From Software reported that Malenia had killed players 329 million times" - How Many Times Players Attempted Malenia
- In version 1.04 of Elden Ring, there was a bug related to the healing mechanic, which was present only when players fought Malenia in co-op - each attack would result in heal, even if the attack missed due to i-frames. This has since been fixed as of update 1.04.1
- Malenia first unleashed the Scarlet Rot in her battle with Radahn, destroying the region of Caelid in the process.
- She is an Empyrean like Ranni and her brother Miquella.
- Melina's armor set can be found in the area directly before Malenia's boss room. This and the similarity of their names has led many fans to speculate that they are related in some way.
- In the Elden Ring trailer shown at E3 2021, Malenia's arena is slightly different, with a much darker appearance and fewer roots in the background. However, the clip from her pre-battle cutscene has the final arena design.
- First phase can't be finished with a critical strike or damage caused by inflicting status effect - Malenia will remain with 1 HP left, even with poison or rot damage. In a very earlier version of the game, if the player managed to finish that phase with critical strike, 2nd phase Malenia would spawn with 1 HP.
- After the player parries her three times and she enters the animation that allows for a critical hit, she can be staggered by any attack (including things like throwing knives), knocking her out of the critical animation.
- Malenia is featured in the game's Collector's Edition, which includes a statue of her and a replica of her helmet.
- Bug: If player depletes her poise while she performs attack with hyper-armor, she will not be put in a state that allows to perform a riposte.
- Bug (possible only in co-op or with Spirit Ash): If player manage to end first phase with a riposte while Malenia's HP is 0, she will spawn with 1HP in 2nd phase.
- This can cause some odd situation in her attacks, as her first one will not be Scarlet Aeonia.
- Game-wise, this boss is treated as 1 encounter instead of 2 as it is more common in case of bosses where phases are separated by cutscene
- Identical thing happens in case of Godrick the Golden
- Voice Actress: Pippa Bennett-Warner
Dialogue
Introduction:
I dreamt for so long.
My flesh was dull gold...and my blood, rotted.
Corpse after corpse, left in my wake...
As I awaited... his return.
... Heed my words.
I am Malenia. Blade of Miquella.
And I have never known defeat.
During Fight
Defeating player in phase 1 (1.00): Now do you understand? I am Malenia, Blade of Miquella...
Defeating player in phase 1 (after 1.00): I am Malenia, Blade of Miquella...
Defeating player in phase 2: Let your flesh be consumed. By the scarlet rot.
Intermission
Wait.
The scarlet bloom flowers once more
You will witness true horror.
Now, rot!
After Fight
Your strength, extraordinary...
The mark...of a true Lord...
O, dear Miquella...
O, dearest Miquella, my brother...
I'm sorry. I finally met my match...
Malenia, Blade of Miquella Image Gallery
AnonymousJust beat her, struggled for a bit then got used to using my mimic tear and cornering phase 1. Phase 2 I can dance around and block and dodge long enough to get solid hits in. Blasphemous Blade definitely helped me, the ash of war on it is ridiculous and will put her on her ass if you land it right
this information needs to be updated, she dodges night comet and stars of ruin. this fight cheats and is very boring.
- Anonymous
Not sure how universal this advice will be, but the way I managed to win was to pull her away from the centre of the arena and get her near the boss door. That way, she couldn't back up out of range and I could keep stunlocking her with heavy attacks and frostbite. Mimic tear also helped proc frostbite more, along with glintblade phalanx for additional posture damage. Was only using thrusting swords and still managed to stun her and get to phase 2 without needing to heal
- Anonymous
Having her be able to ignore poise damage is one of the stupidest things Fromsoft has ever done. It makes the fight feel so inconsistent and RNG if you're fighting her with melee only. One minute you're able to stagger her consistently into phase 2, the next minute she repeatably spams hyper armor moves that cancel out all the poise progress you've made and you can't even tell. And you just know there'll be fans waiting to defend this. Imagine if Isshin could regain all his posture because you just so happened to attack him when he had hyper armor.
- Anonymous
After 100 or so fights on NG++ attempting to solo her (with no summons or spirit ash), I'm becoming resigned to concede defeat and thinking she is an almost impossible and unfair boss. If you don't use freeze pots to cancel WFD (yes it works but only if you get it out in time as the throwing animation is soooo sloooow), dodging WFD is largely a matter of luck. Also, I know people gripe about the life steal but for me the input reading is equally if not more bad. Forget using Bloodhound's Finesse on the Fang - input read. Want to use Giant Hunt - sorry you missed: input read! I know I can 'git gud' wasting a few more hours of my life but I'm finding luck has a lot to do with it as well as skill. So tempted to bring out Black Knifge Tiche or Mimic Tear but I'll persevere for now. Still think she is not a balanced boss at all.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Was struggling to kill her and then phase 2 starts, I got melted in 1 second :D
If you would've asked me like 2 months ago when I first tried to defeat Malenia I would have said that I hated Malenia and had her as one of my least favorite bosses in this game, next to Fortissax, morgott and urgh... Godskin duo. But now 2 months later when of 140 hours in this game (first playthrough took 120 hours and 30 of them were on Malenia, no I'm not joking) and two playthroughs where I have beaten this boss solo 2 times, first time I was using the duel katanas build with rivers of blood in the left hand and a blood uchigatana with blood tax in the right hand. Yes I was ripping off "let me solo her" but I don't care I still beat her. But the first time it felt more like luck than actual skill because I was just lucky that she didn't use waterfowl dance in her second phase and didn't use it when I was super close to her. Now on my second playthrough I wanted to do something more of my own style and as I used to be a parry god in ds3 I started learning how parry worked in this game, and for some reason even if I was a god in ds3 I never used Parry once on my first playthrough so I had alot to learn. So on my second fight with Malenia I used a iron roundtable sheild with golden parry and a rivers of blood (because I like that weapon but don't worry I won't use it in pvp because I don't want to play pvp) and I started learning which move I could parry and after like 3-5 hours I eventually defeated her and it felt more satisfying because I could actually do something that was something more of my style and didn't just search up her weaknesses (and I could actually wear some armor with felt more cinematic) and I finally learned how to dodge waterfowl dance at close range. I also learned that it doesn't have to matter on how much damage I'm doing instead it how consistency of dodging and finding the right times to attack. And after both of these playthroughs I can say that Malenia is my favorite boss in elden ring and my second favorite boss in any from soft game, next to soul of cinder. And she's not near the bottom of of worst bosses in this game (and neither is Morgott, I realized that on my second playthrough. But Fortissax this sucks and godskin duo is an abomination and the only boss I will willingly use spirit ashes on). Or maybe I got Stockholm syndrome from her because I want her to step on.... I'm getting off point so in conclusion I really love this boss and if you're a new player struggling then you just have to remember that it's nothing wrong using spirit ashes to beat her and if you don't want to do that then you should remember that you should never give up and always try harder and harder and that nothing is impossible if you try hard enough and train for It. Thank you all that decided to read my comment and I wish you have a wonderful day :)
- Anonymous
Just spammed Waves of Darkness with my Zwei over and over and she couldn't do anything about it
- Anonymous
to be honest....B tier fight at best. there is many problems with this fight overall that honestly hold it back.
-lets just gets this out of the way, waterfowl dance, its a terrible move but lets break down why. first things first is, how are you meant to avoid this attack. like there is 4 ways i fought to avoid this, but like, one is BHS, which FS would not make it so you have to beat the boss with one WA, this is not sekrio. using bleed or frost, again forcing people into a build or using limited items is not something FS would do. third, is to just get lucky and she starts the attack far enough away from you. and fourth is messing up her tracking, which is a loop hole in her Ai, but thats the best thing so far. and now the biggest problem with WFD, is that it's far to powerful for hard it is to avoid. lets take midir's laser, very high damaging, basicly a one or two shot, but it's easy to avoid. another examples of this is elden beast elden ring attack, very damaging, but easy to avoid and not going to one shot you. it shouldn't be said but the higher damging a attack it, the easier it should be to avoid. simple as that.
-second problem is that malenia has a poorly made move pool. waterfowl is the only hard part of the fight, every other attack is not a problem at all, as she mainly flails like a idiot around the arena, but while she has a large move pool, most of her attacks feel almost the same, and you can just kinda go on auto for most of the first aside from like 3.
-third problem is hyper armor. I have mixed feeling about hyper armor, if it's done right it could be good. this is not one of those fights. too many attacks have this, and it breaks the flow of the fight a lot, not to mention that it makes heavy weapons feel almost useless since you will end up trading hits, and she will out damage you. i think it should be in this fight but not as much as it's used.
-the final problem is life steal. now, i don't think life steal is bad, but the fact it can heal threw shields is stupid. gameplay wise, it just makes builds useless, and lore wise it's even dumber since what is stopping her from slapping the wall and healing to max HP?
overall, it's not a horrible fight, ad I do ave fun with it every now and again, but it feels like it trying to hard to be the hardest, the hardest boss in every game shouldn't try to make some builds useless and push other builds that have a much easier time. this is the problem with ER bosses as a whole though. some bosses are way too easy or way too hard for some bosses. as Miyazaki said, he wants everyone to have as close to the same experience as possible to each other, that is why he would not make a easy mode, and for a long time i feel like it was true, like yes sometime lets say magic is easier then melee for this one boss, but it was uselly close. malenia and ER bosses as a whole does not follow what Miyazaki wants these games to be. so that is why I can't rank malenia higher then a B. it's not a masterpeice, it's not the best ER boss.
- Anonymous
gosh, I love her, I mean the fight.
once you master how to dodge her Waterfowl Dance, the fight become really fun.
you should change your weapon affinity to Cold, even if your INT is very low, it will still extremely effective on her.
AoW that break poise like Giant Hunt and Piercing Fang are also very good.
- Anonymous
The man enters the examination room in the Leyndell Hospital, and takes a seat on the bed. The doctor and his assistant walk in a few minutes later. He was told to bring his assistant due to the patient being… unstable.
“How are you doing?”
“Good. I’m Good…”
The man shifts uncomfortably and his eyes dart around the room, struggling to make eye contact.
“I’m sure they told you what happened. I already made the appointment beforehand.”
“Right. If you need anything, let me know. I’m going to begin the examination soon. It’s likely going to be a June of surgery. Unfortunately, nobody is completely certain of how to treat scarlet rot, but I’m sure we can figure something out.”
The man starts to sweat, and his eyes become a little crazed.
“Yeah… so how will it work? I’m scared, doc. Rot is dangerous .”
The doctor takes a seat across the room.
“It’s simple, really. We will use a blade and extrac-“
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! AAAAAAAAAHH! BLADES! NO BLADE! THE BLADE!”
The sudden yelling caused the doctor to leap out of his chair knocking it over. He rushed to the man, who was now cowering in the corner, his back turned to the room.
“Sir, I’m sorry. I assure this will be a simple procedure. If you have your doubts, have faith in the Erdtree and Marika.”
“EUAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
The man let out a horribly strained scream and began sobbing uncontrollably.
The doctor asked his assistant what caused the outburst.
“I thought he just got back from fighting Malenia?”
The man lets out a shriek again upon hearing the name for… who knows what number at this point.
The assistant responded, “With holy damage.”
The doctor realized there was no saving the man at this point, and preferred to fake the surgery in order to let him rot. It was a kinder fate to let him die than continue remembering the name of Malenia, Blade of Miquella.
- Anonymous
Malenia is an interesting boss, from a design perspective. She has so many advantages (lifesteal, speed, reach, damage, not to mention her extremely varied moveset that has bunch of attacks that travel very far, ones that have fair amount of delay, ones that are nigh-unstaggerable) and even with all that, the devs decided to not only give her a move as OP as WfD, but also made her inflict pretty gross amounts of scarlet rot on her second phase. I'm not even mad anymore, as I'm not sure if even dropping WfD altogether would make her feel even remotely fair, and I guess the design to some extent was to create something where the odds are stacked heavily against the player, yet the fight isn't without some concessions: her resistances are not that high, her first phase is somewhat passive most of the time and her poise and stance are also fairly low for an endgame boss. All in all, while I still greatly dislike the fight, I can respect the design.
- Anonymous
after beating her without healing or using a strong build (was using one greatspear), my best tip is that if you keep your distance and utilize the reach of your weapon you can avoid the first flurry of waterfowl dance (hardest part to dodge) by running away. the same goes for the clone attack in phase two; keeping your distance is essential for that attack since the clones have limited range. i just ran to my right whenever she used that attack. doing so makes it so that you will only have to dodge her last clone and her big stab she does at the end
- Anonymous
NG - Struggled with a high faith/dex/str build. Blasphemous and incarnations were not doing it for me, even with the Mimic tear. So spec'd into a bleed build with a full +10 Rivers of Blood and a partial +20 Nagakiba (used a blood ash of war). Melted her on first attempt with Mimic tho. Just kept laying into her as she never got a chance to do her whirly twirly on me, and dodged her Rot bomb blasts a couple of times.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I think Malenia is too easy. Yeah, as a matter of fact, they should give her the Unalloyed Malenia mod moveset. On top of that, have her insta proc bleed, frostbite, madness, sleep, deadly poison, and lake of rot scarlet rot per hit and heal her back to full. AND give her infinite poise. This is the way.
- Anonymous
River of Blood plus second katana fully upgraded, dual wield attack, mimic summon, totally melted her
- Anonymous
DPing Malenia post-scarlet aeonia with mimic tear and synchronized comet azur felt illegal yet extremely satisfying
- Anonymous
Sometimes she blocks attacks from small weapons like straight swords or i’m seeing wrong?
- Anonymous
block the first flurry, walk forward all the way until you can't, walk backwards.
- Anonymous
Use Bolt of Gransax with shard of alexander, godfrey icon, lightning crystal tear, and if you are feeling extra frisky the lightning scorpion charm. Summon mimic tear(or any other equally tanky summon) and chunk her for a tenth of her hp with every charged lightning bolt you throw. Easiest Malenia kill ever. I killed her and only had to dodge like two attacks.
- Anonymous
Malenia belongs to the streets of Yharnem, not so pro tip, if you get quickstep you can have a Bloodborne fight in elden ring
- Anonymous
malenia: "do not f**k with me! i have the power of god AND anime on my side! AAAAAAAAH"
*waterfowl dance*
- Anonymous
Here's a bunch of strategies to try: Moonveil's range makes her attacks trivial, and you can avoid nearly all the hits of waterfowl dance if you trigger it with the skill and run away as fast as you can. Bloody helice stagers her super easily, but leaves you vulnerable to waterfowl dance if you aren't careful. Marais executioner's sword, which can insta-kill most bosses with the right charms and crystal tears, is useless here, as the second phase has few windows for you to stun lock her with the skill. Elionara's poleblade with all the successive attack damage increases you can stack and a helping of lord of blood's exultation and white mask makes malenia's first phase trivial as long as you are careful to pause and wait for waterfowl in between each use of the skill, though feel free to use it three times upfront, because she staggers to it after two uses of the skill and won't have taken enough damage to trigger waterfowl after a singular use. I recommend getting the full bloom guardian garb, as in late game, your flask won't be able to heal you for more than half your health, and as always, if you are doing a faith build, use flame grant me strength after the scarlet aeonia attack in phase 2. Flame of the fell god knocks her down if you need a couple extra hits. Blasphemous blade is harder to hit malenia with than moonveil, though it's still viable for this fight. Starscourge greatswords do massive damage like always, but you'll have to get a bit too close for comfort, and the first part of the skill almost never stuns her. Dragon king's cragblade is excellent for staggering and getting easy hits, as long as you have experience with it, which i do not. Some of these strategies might not work for you, builds differ, and not everyone has the stats to be able to equip every weapon in the game, so you should take everything i say with a grain of salt, lord knows this wiki has piles of it. Try experimenting yourself, you might find something viable that i never knew about.
- Anonymous
I They should’ve modified the waterfowl dance so that the first movement wasn’t terribly fast, and then the subsequent movement would track you with the same speed as it does now. The ending combos can be the same
- Anonymous
Ok I have a question: the website only states a single number per each status effect resistance, so does it increase every time it procs like with every other boss fight? Or are her resistances the same always?
- Anonymous
If she didn't have a undodgeable attack and an inta-kill attack, she would have been perfectly balanced, a fun, two-to-three deaths fight.
- Anonymous
I do a lot of co op, letting people summon me for malenia and the final boss. you would not believe how many times I've had to watch the phase transition cutscene only for the host to immediately get one shot by the scarlet bloom lol. guys, if you're gonna summon people to help you, please just skip the cutscene. also what are you doing at this point in the game with only 1000 hp
- Anonymous
This flanderized ass boss is so overrated and boring lmao beat her on my 3rd try no ashes by spamming jumping R2s with the great star with frozen armament. 95% of the fight is free game where she can get stun locked by a dagger and then 5% is 1337 anime dance nothin personnel kid bloodedge the minion attack that will kill you near instantly if you didn’t watch a guide beforehand on how to dodge it or don’t have 80 vigor.
This feels like a boss a developer would design if they’ve never played a souls game, only heard what they were like on the internet. Still doesn’t hold a candle to Slave Knight or Fume Knight.
- Anonymous
Coming from a souls veteran: Malenia fight shows how bad is the boss design of Elden Ring and how probably the developers tried to balance the game around using Ashes summons. The fight becomes super easy (as anything else in the game) if you're using a Mimic Tear, but if you manage to solo her without exploiting broken weapons, in true dark souls way, you have my respect. Many people mentioned already, her healing and WFD are the main issues, but she also becomes hyper active in phase 2, not allowing many openings or healing opportunities. Just play back to back Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring to see the difference, how fair and satisfying are the fights in DS3.
- Anonymous
My main gripe with this fight is that pretty much all of her attacks are pretty basic combos and stuff, not really hard to dodge, and then there's waterfowl. Pretty much every single death on her is going to be from waterfowl, or her immediately starting a combo before you can heal after waterfowl. If she didn't have waterfowl, she wouldn't have nearly as big of a reputation as the "super duper infamously hard boss", and I just don't think a boss should have to rely on a single attack to be considered dangerous. The lifesteal doesn't help either, but it can be dealt with.
- Anonymous
convinced the people who still complain about waterfowl blanked out on the clone attack in phase 2 or just had summons play the game for them
- Anonymous
funny thing happened when i was helping someone to fight her on co-op today. we got a stance break at the end of first phase her health bar was like zero but i was able to get my riposte animation off and then she started second phase with 1 hp. finished her off with a good old lightning spear after scarlet aeonia. i thought that bug was fixed and they made it so she doesn't die to riposte on her phase transition but i guess it is still buggy at co-op.
- Anonymous
The best enemy in this series besides a few Sekiro bosses. Would've been better than all non-gauntlet bosses had the WFD been more intuative to dodge.
- Anonymous
How many hours do y'all think Miyazaki spent fighting this boss while they playtested her?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Went in blind, only knowing rumors of her as the hardest boss in here.. Killed her first try, got the nice cutscene of my character looking sad for her..
And then phase 2 began. Finger went up my whole but whole.
Please try again
- Anonymous
"I am Malenia, Blade of Miquella. And I have never known defeat."
>Had to bloom against Radahn to force a draw, even though he was holding back the stars
>L2 spams against Tarnished
whatever you say, lady...
- Anonymous
After countless attempts I was finally able to pull off a RL-1+0 on her.
If you are maso... errr enjoy a good challenge, I highly recommend you to give it at least a try (or dozens).
The clench is just unreal. Especially when she whirls up a waterfowl right in your face and she only has a small sliver of health left.
I don't think I need to train my glutes for the next 6 months.
- Anonymous
ironically waterfowl dance is the least dancelike move she can do. its not really a dance when one is floating in the air spamming slash vfx while the other chickens out running all over the area, rolling once, and rolling a few times again. like seriously, that move breaks the pace of the fight and singlehandedly knocks down malenia to b tier for me (not s tier because of her cheating stance break mechanics). i dont care if its technically possible to always dodge it 100%, the way to do it is by either exploiting the ai or always running away the whole fight, and both of those ways are unenjoyable for me.
- Anonymous
After dozens of Elden Ring playtroughs over these couple years, I have learned to enjoy fighting most bosses, including some I hated at first.
Malenia however, while she can be fun to fight...
- Her healing is complete bullshit, unnecessary and uncalled for, just give her a nice health bar and you don't need a soul sucking mechanic to brag about your boss being hard.
- Waterfowl is also complete garbage, first because it's impossible to understand the hitbox of the attack without google (you can't dodge into the 1st wave, but you can dodge into the 2nd and 3rd? Why????? VERY counter intuitive). AND after you learn to dodge it you literally have to stop the fight and only engage her again after she uses it, or she kills you. Not counting other methods that force you to use a specific skill or status.
If it wasn't for those 2 bullshit mechanics this would be a 10/10. Sword Saint Isshin is still the best super hard boss that FROM designed IMO. Malenia can't hold a candle to Orphan of Kos either.
- Anonymous
There's something I don't understand: the description of the Scarlet Aeonia incantation says "Each time the scarlet flower blooms, Malenia's rot advances. It has bloomed twice already. With the third bloom, she will become a true goddess."
Does this description refers to the time before we fight her or after?
That flower we see before the entrance to her arena is probably the Caelid bloom that got carried back with her inside it and was probably the first bloom.
If the first bloom happened in Caelid and the second bloom during her fight, then the third bloom is the one that happens after we defeat her. However, she transforms into her goddess form before the third bloom, which is confusing, unless another bloom happened somewhere whe don't know.
I couldn't find anything in the game that answers this. The phase transition bloom is the second or third one? If its the third, where did the second happen? And if its the second then is she still alive and her true goddess form will still happen?
- Anonymous
if you wanna have a good laugh and brutally murder her use burn o flame only to kill her. everytime she gets hit and gets in the air and flops back down is great comedy material.
- Anonymous
i can consistently dodge waterfowl dance and the spirit summons attack, those are literally easy once you learn them. all of her other attacks are way less telegraphed and more difficult to learn, especially having to learn which attacks u can interrupt etc. waterfowl is absolutely not the only thing that makes her hard, and her moveset is overall balanced difficulty-wise
- Anonymous
Its a fun fight for the most part I must admit. The healing should be adjusted so shields become viable, I dont like a boss to force a specific playstyle
Waterfowl Dance is utter BS tho. I know some people have learned how to deal with it, but it can ruin your run quickly. It should either have more startup time to let you run away or add more time between flurries so you can sneak a heal in. She may heal all her hp but at least you dont die.
- Anonymous
man, I dont understand why some of this "smart ** all knowing people " try to deny the fact that this boos is just BAD...
I finish this game more than 30 time and fight her with dozen of bulids and wepoans... she is garbage in every approach... even a mage has a hard time cuz she dodge most of spells in the game
there are many many nonsense about this fight:
1-damage she does
2- waterfull
3-healing (even on a ****ing 100 % shield)
4-her stupid animation cancelling
5- summon attack in phase 2(if you are not far enough =you facked)
6-tiny windows for attack
7-a lot of input reading
.....
I can talk about any of this and more than that in hours but iam not, cuz Iam sick of this stupid *** (and her defenders)
In short this boss is just awful and in my opinion represent Elden Ring bad end game boos design issue. whenever I go for a run and beat him, there is no pleasure in it for me..... just like the fight itself
seriously, if dlc bosses gonna be like him, Iam not going to play that anymore
- Anonymous
As a super casual player, I've managed to defit her pretty easy with dark moonlight sword and mimic ash. Didn't use any additional spells, wasn't min maxing talismans, etc. Just r2 spam and keeping my distance.
- Anonymous
I still think the godskin apostle up in the mountain tops of the giants in a random cave is harder (without spirit)
- Anonymous
If Miyazaki actually play tested his games this boss wouldn't be in here
- Anonymous
Fighting this boss with one of the two long katanas is incredible. Whenever I get summoned and see that yellow brick wall in front of me, I'm always like "YEEEEESSSS"
One time I was cosplaying as this boss and someone let me have a go at it alone (not even mad, I was excited about the challenge)
and I beat her with minimal hits taken, it was wonderful, I felt like I was the boss fight.
Also I have to say, if you have her katana out you WILL get summoned for her more, and then even more if you do a full cosplay. It makes sense tho cause people are probably like "oh wow this person has beat her before, might as well give em a go"
- Anonymous
I think this fight would be a lot more reasonable if her heal was half as effective as it is currently and that it wasn't applicable against shields, because trying to use a shield against her and win is basically impossible.
- Anonymous
It's unclear whether her scarlet rot deals more damage to you than the average scarlet rot and hurts you at a faster rate, or whether it just hurts you at a faster rate, but either way, I think the page should let you know these things:
Not all her attacks deal rot in the 2nd phase unlike this page infers, and her rot hurts you far more than average scarlet rot.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
well, just beat elden ring (addmittedly with some help for maliketh, godfrey, and radagon/elden beast, i did most of the dmg in maliketh, godfrey and radagon/elden beast i was kinda carried) and now i am determined to beat malenia solo, i am so done for, my playtime will increase by another 60H+ by the time im done
- Anonymous
Got fed up of her spin to win, anime, BS. Summoned Mimic while I had Blasphemous Blade Equipped, then switched to the Nagakiba. Also had one incantation equipped: Rejection. Melted her. Spent half the fight on her arse, or staggered. I'm not even ashamed.
- Anonymous
one of the best designed, most fun and memorable bosses. only thing I would change is give her infinite poise so u can't interrupt any of her attacks, it just feels out of place
- Anonymous
Beat 2 try ng+6 today I used fire infused plus 25 claymore with flaming strike
- Anonymous
Why is there no ng+ status resistance info yet? It's present for all others bosses smh
- Anonymous
First time playing a Fromsoft game. She was definitely hardest boss of all the shardbearers. Mohg I was able to defeat in three tries. But her it took several dozen of tries and even then she died only a second before I died.
What worked for me was using Mohg's Spear and Dung eater to take aggro. And the Blood flies incantation to stagger her.
I was almost resigned to not being able to beat her bit now that I have done it feels awesome.
- Anonymous
She's quite difficult but very susceptible to stagger/knockdown. Some AoW like Ordovis' Vortex can keep her knocked down as long as you have FP, second phase is kind of a joke if your weapon can do that
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
fight would be perfect if the first volley of the water fowl dance were slightly easier. Yeah I said it, call me a casul all you want. I have seen people dodge it up close, but it's so counter intuitive that I doubt 99.9% elden hollows can pull it off without looking it up. The phantom attack in stage 2 is sus too, but I also acknowledge my blatant lack of skill. Anyhow, excellent fight, and easily my favorite one in the game.
She gives me stormveil twink vibes: you barely deal dmg, have much less heals and hp, and even if you dodge everything perfectly but slip one time, she will combo you and you are dead in seconds. Fun fight tho since a no-hit is pretty much required. More fun than Friede-the-slog-queen
- Anonymous
The more i fight this boss the more i fall in love with it, It's definitely one of the best fights in the series. She tests both your skills and strategic thinking to the extreme.
Her whole moveset requires careful approach to evade properly, especially waterfowl dance.
But here is a tip barely anyone knows, when you're fighting her normally, doing 1-2 hits each approach, DO NOT approach her if she seems chill, or when she isn't trying to attack you, that's your indicator that she'll do watefowl when you get close to her, so just do a simple thing and throw any projectile at her, that will immediately trigger the attack and allow you to dodge it from a safe distance.
- Anonymous
using light load this boss becomes almost a joke up until it just uses its win button aka waterfowl dance
- Anonymous
Method for soloing with pure melee (dex or strength): Malenia's biggest weakness is her stance and vulnerability to cold and bleed. This is what you need to exploit. If you're pure dex or pure strength, use the jumping heavys and infuse with cold or bleed. After a jumping heavy, use light attacks to interrupt her swings (don't underestimate this)- swing just before she does to cancel her attack. This is a fight that rewards you for picking the right moments to be aggressive. Once you break her stance (rating of 80), get the crit, then back off. Take this time to heal if you need, but back up and bait her Waterfowl Dance.
To deal with Waterfowl Dance, after getting her to the threshold (~75% health or so), your best bet is to bait her attack. Stand about 3 sword lengths away, and wait for her to go into the jump animation. She may attempt prosthesis slice or similar, but dodge roll and wait her out. Soon enough she'll do the Waterfowl. If you're the right distance you can outrun her totally, otherwise outrun the first attack and then the advice in the wiki for second and third attacks is good (dodge to her right on second slash, then towards her for the third and immediately away. Wait out for the little burst of the final attack before moving in.) After she does Waterfowl, you're generally good for a little while before she'll use it again. Take this time to attack.
- Anonymous
shes a fun fight i guess but would be great if: waterfowl took longer to start, giving players with heavy weapons time to actually do anything, and the clone move in phase 2 wasnt so ridiculous.
- Anonymous
I feel like the hatred for her boss fight is more meme than reality at this point. But it's probably also exacerbated by Elden Ring players' definitely very normal relationship with women.
Down vote me if you want but I always cheese this *******. If she's allowed to heal on hit, do scarlet rot, have insane damage and do waterfowl every 2 seconds then I'm allowed to have my own tricks.
- Anonymous
Overrated boss. She literally only has two dangerous attacks. If you can handle the gimmick that is Waterfowl, she's basically nothing. The other only threat I found is her dash and two quick slashes because it's incredibly fast and has great reach. People build up souls bosses much more than they ought to be. They are spectacle, not skill based. That's why so much of the game is based on input reading and delays specifically timed to catch rolls. Give me Nioh, a game with real combat. At least you're not waiting around for 3 minutes for the boss to Maybe allow you to attack it once or twice before it spasms out again. (but I admit, the tracking becomes absurd in Nioh 2, yet it's just as extreme and silly in Elden Ring actually.)
- Anonymous
What if the player could just burn the Haligtree? Why don't we get that option?
- Anonymous
I beat her solo on both playthroughs - roughly around levels 120-130, first time with Bloodhound Fang +10, now with +25 Great Epee. I'm not going through this again.
Waterfowl Dance turns an S tier boss fight that is up there with Maliketh, Godfrey and Radagon into an excruciating slog. There is nothing worse than learning her moves, dodging everything, relentlessly bullying her with running R2s and dying to her spin to win anime bullshit. I accept that I'll never be able to fully dodge it and that's OK - there's a reason that HOW TO DODGE WATERFOWL DANCE videos have a many views as they are.
As excited for the DLC as I am, I worry that Miyazaki and company will somehow outdo themselves and cook up another monstrosity like Malenia.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Easiest fight of all time, get unendurable frenzy from consecrated snow fields, wear preceptor seluvis set(easy to get and second highest focus) mind to 80, faith to 60 get godslayers seal and frenzied flame seal(if you're okay with frenzy flame) mottled necklace+1 and clarifying horn charm+1(for madness resistance) flock canvas talisman(given by gowry once Millicent is killed) and fire scorpion charm. And then you can enjoy this truly click the right mouse button and win combo
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
ngl i beat her third try because me and two others kept staggering her constantly.
- Anonymous
Failenia would have gotten CURB STOMPED if Godrick had a PKCS.
- Anonymous
"Waterfowl is easy" they say after watching a bs ton of guides or how other people do it, with these people commonly using cheat engine to figure it out. The way you do it is by literally fcking up the tracking on her flurries, the same with elden stars, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't intended that way. I hope Messmer will be more like Friede instead of Malenia, without any bs insta kill moves like waterfowl.
- Anonymous
big armour+ mimic+big weapon (powerstaced greatswords/halberds/curved greatswords, greataxe, greathammer, colossal sword or regular colossal weapon) makes short work if your ever struggling, mages really struggle into her so i normally respec into something else if im playing as a mage. Literally just walk in with a colossal weapon, boiled crab, golden vow, dragoncresh greatshield and you can tank 3/4 of waterfowl and live its pretty dumb, remember shes only physical dmg so black flames protection on top of all that (-crab) makes you near invincible. again also nearly all slash dmg so slash resistant armour is best her only strike i believe is the kick in phase 1 and the counter kick in phase 2, the stab and grab are the only pierce dmg as well so you can really spec for her dmg type in particular, or just use bleed kek
- Anonymous
She deserves the health pool she's got, when you learn to fight her it becomes a beautiful dance i'm sure. But that waterfowl attack takes all the fun out of the learning curve. Ended 70-80% of my 40+ attempts early.
- Anonymous
You know, her armour may not be the best there is with its low poise but damn I love the way it looks, worth taking her on for this and her weapon even tho I usually don't like using katanas (mainly because I suck at using them lmao)
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Two years after my first 100% run on the PS5, I've restarted the game on Steam.
I've just reached the Grace in front of Malenia.
I don't dare to enter. I remember it took me ten to fifteen tries during my first run xD
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I know the Waterfowl Dance is her legendarily hard to dodge attack but I kind of got it down by now. But what still kills me 99% of the time are the Rapid Prosthesis Slashes... I cannot for the life of me get down how to avoid them.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I've realised I almost instinctively come here right after defeating her now. It's always so funny to see this place more than any other seethe about her lol.
I hope to see the same when this DLC rolls around with the boss supposedly on her level of difficulty.
- Anonymous
i.. really.. hate.. THIS ****ING WATERFOWL DANCE I ****IN HATE ITTT!!!!
- Anonymous
I love fighting her, i don't really want to kill her (and i don't think i can), so i just fight her at least 5 times a day and enjoying myself getting demolished by her
- Anonymous
I absolutely hate that she will stay alive if you bring her HP to 0 with a critical attack
- Anonymous
100+ attempts (after 80 i stopped counting, so mb close to 150) with no summons to defeat her, i don't even feel good really, im dead inside, empty shell of myself.
- Anonymous
btw you can throw out knives, pots to provoke her to do waterfowl without being close and allowing you to punish it heavily
- Anonymous
Run away, keep running, pump those Tarnished legs, knees high. Then, she dashes to you midway through Waterfowl, you roll like an absolute unit through her, asserting dominance. Then you continue running forward and away again after the roll.
*Blows up Caelid with mind*
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